Contact us
- Professor Kirstie Fryirs
- 6 Wally’s Walk
- Macquarie University NSW 2109
- T: +61 (2) 9850 8367
- E: kirstie.fryirs@mq.edu.au
Healthy rivers are vital to the survival of communities and ecosystems. Macquarie’s River Styles Framework has contributed to improving river management around the world by creating a new way to understand river processes.
Know your river. Know your catchment. Work with nature. Understand that rivers are diverse, dynamic entities which we need to adapt to living with. These principles drive the international best practice River Styles Framework developed by Macquarie’s Professor Kirstie Fryirs and fellow scientist Professor Gary Brierley.
The River Styles Framework was one of thirteen high impact research projects featured in the inaugural NSW Research Impact Showcase (2022). The Framework is helping a growing number of government agencies and conservation groups to:
Rivers are diverse. They differ remarkably in character (‘morphology’) and behaviour. NSW alone contains 47 different styles of rivers, while more than 70 unique river styles have been identified globally.
Rivers evolve and change. Human activity and natural disturbances have impacted a significant proportion of rivers, altering their character and behaviour, and leaving many in a poor condition.
Understanding the style of a river and how it has evolved is key to diagnosing its health and deciding how to best work with natural processes to improve its condition. The River Styles Framework gives decision makers the tools to recognise rivers as diverse systems, and effectively diagnose and treat problems.
Before the River Styles Framework, river management policy makers and practitioners lacked a consistent way to identify different river types and assess their health and recovery potential.
The River Styles Framework is part of a transition in the industry of river management over the last few decades.
The framework is based on more than 20 years of internationally recognised, award-winning research on the morphology, function and evolution of rivers.
Instead of classifying rivers, the framework characterises them. This open-ended, place-based approach to river analysis ensures that rivers are managed according to their individual characteristics and needs.
This is a cost-effective approach, enabling efficient spending of public money. A 2010 Land and Water Australia (LWA) cost-benefit analysis showed that the net value of River Styles was $40 million, a figure that has since likely significantly increased with the framework’s rollout across NSW and internationally.
The River Styles Framework has been adopted in a growing number of countries across six continents. Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of kilometres of river length have been assessed and more than 500 professional River Stylers trained.
Specific applications of the framework are as diverse as rivers themselves:
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